The present invention relates to a controllable hydraulic vibration damper for automotive vehicles. A like vibration damper is disclosed in German published patent application No. 34 06 875. One working chamber in the vibration damper disclosed therein communicates permanently with a channel. yet the connection between the channel and the compensating chamber is controlled by a magnet valve. The other working chamber is, via bottom valves, in communication with the compensating chamber which, in turn, is connectible with the channel via the magnet valve. The damping force of this controller is substantially determined by the characteristic curve of the invariably set damping valves. Solely the compensating volume displaced by the piston rod is available as a controllable fluid flow. This bypass control allows the damper's initial adjustment to vary only to a minor degree.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vibration damper according to the species which is of a simple structure and whose damping characteristic curve is variable over wide ranges.